


Hand Painted Walls

by Butterflyisa



Series: I don't know what to call this yet [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ADD/ADHD Tony Stark, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Family, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Domestic Fluff, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Bruce Banner, Kid Bucky Barnes, Kid Fic, Kid Loki (Marvel), Kid Loki and Kid Thor (Marvel), Kid Natasha Romanov, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Thor (Marvel), Kid Tony Stark, Kid Wanda Maximoff, M/M, Mute Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Red Room (Marvel), Steve Rogers Has Issues, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Self-Esteem Issues, Tony Stark Has Trust Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, selective mutism, traumatic mutism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29174100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterflyisa/pseuds/Butterflyisa
Summary: A Foster-Family AU where Clint & Phil raise the avengers.A redhead has just joined the gang, and there patch-work family seems to be coming together at last.(I'm not good at summaries but angst, fluff, the whole shabang)
Relationships: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Series: I don't know what to call this yet [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141718
Comments: 18
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Getting bored of online classes, so I present to you this strange little number
> 
> So, after devouring the kid!Avengers tags, i have deduced that it was time I create my own piece. This is definitely inspired by Arianpeterson13 's adopted Tony's series, as well as countless other incredible authors who've fed me young tony over the years. I have finally made an AO3 account so you can expect to see me commenting places from now on, leave a comment if you write kid fics/ fluffy domestic avenger fics and I will come and hype you up!

Natasha stood in the doorway of the house, she quickly noticed the pile of shoes at the side of the door and tentatively slid her's off. She tucked them underneath the small table which held a sweatshirt, a set of keys, and some other randomly strewn about objects. They were her only pair of 'nice' shoes left, and she really did not need a bunch of greedy assholes taking them. Especially when they were the last thing from school, if she could call it that. She had a black knit sweater on and a pair of baggy jeans. She had a feeling she'd be on the older side of the kids here based off of the size of the kids shoes. 

"Welcome Natasha, my name's Phil Coulson" Phil smiled tucking his hands in his pockets. "I'm sure Clint's told you all about me though" He added with a soft smile at Clint. The man nodded a glint in his eyes. 

Natasha didn't speak at first, but then she decided that if their first impressions was simply that, an impression, she probably should play the part. "Well it's lovely to meet you Mr. Coulson" 

"Please, call me Phil, whatever you'd like actually, but no titles, and let's avoid swears Bruce is seven, and very impressionable" 

Natasha cocked a brow up at the word choice. It seemed like that was what her life was amounting to. Headlines whirred through her brain. 'Many of the students were taken to America under the impression that-' 'The cruel institute gave off the impression of an your ballet school' 'Impressions of survivors' 

As if they could call them that. It wasn't surviving. It was dying a little bit more every day. 

"Sure thing" Natasha smiled clutching her bag a little tighter to her shoulder. She was unsure of whether or not she would have her own room. 

"I'll call in the boys" Clint said walking through the doorway "Can I bring your bag upstairs for you?" he asked offering a hand out to the girl. 

The fourteen year old shook her head "I'm alright thank you" She replied curtly ducking her head, displaying a firey red ponytail. Clint nodded, he'd offered the same thing to all the kids, and every one of them had denied his services. 

Natasha followed Phil into the living room. He was babbling on about something, but seeing as English was Natasha's third language, she was easily able to tune it out and 'look pretty, nodding along' as she followed him. He gestured for her to sit down on an armchair in the room. It had big windows and the coffee table had a book, open to beautiful drawings. She glanced around the room scanning it for danger. The only thing she could find was the man, perhaps she was out of practice, being locked up in that empty 'waiting-room'. They should call it as it is a holding-cell. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and she awkwardly slid her sweater off revealing a black t-shirt. She stared at Phil as he stared back at her, she narrowed her eyes in calculation. He wasn't sizing her up, he wasn't testing her, it seemed like an invitation of some sort. Natasha pushed the thought out of her head as Clint walked back in. 

"The troops have arrived" he announced as five boys piled into the room. Natasha wrinkled her nose slightly. There hadn't been any boys in her life since age six when she'd went to boarding school. And she'd liked it that way. Boys were not to be trusted. And now she was surrounded. It did bring her slight comfort to know that she stood taller than the majority. Except perhaps the blonde with long hair, or the other boy with long hair. But the long hair seemed slightly feminine and took away a bit of the fear-factor they otherwise may have held. She narrowed her eyes again at the brunet. 

"I know you" She stated staring at the second tallest of the bunch. He had a metal arm. A very familiar metal arm. Natasha couldn’t quite place it yet though. The doctor’s said her memories might be scattered until she was well-into her twenties. 

The boy simply shrugged sitting down on the couch, a slightly smaller blonde next to him. She suddenly found her head going into overdrive where the hell did she know him from? and also why the fuck were there so many people there. 

She took a breath to steady herself, her eyes scanning for everyone's achilles heels, or any sign of weakness. 

Clint seemed distracted, his attention constantly split between four things, meaning it would be easy to throw him one way and run the other. The smallest boy had black hair, he was probably the seven-year-old, he seemed very invested in staring at the carpet. He also was about seven feet shorter than her so he obviously was not a risk in the first place. The tall blond looked like a puppy dog. Which wasn't necessarily a weakness, but he didn't seem very intimidating. The long haired brunet one however was. But the metal arm seemed to be sensitive enough, if she could get it off of him he'd probably be dumbfounded for a minute or two. The one at his side, and the one at the duos feet were both smaller than her. She seemed satisfied with her calculations and looked back towards Phil. 

"Well, gang this is Natasha, Natasha this is the gang" Clint piped up. "Introductions, I'm Clint, you know that, that's Phil you also know that" Clint gestured towards himself and then Phil at the appropriate times. 

"Hello Natasha, I am Thor son of Odin" he nodded in what was probably aiming for a stoic voice. It was the blonde puppy. Natasha bit the inside of her cheek as she gave him a tense smile. 

"Bucky" Metal-arm-guy-, well, Bucky said.

The boy next to him smiled and waved awkwardly "Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure to meet you" 

Natasha tried very hard not to snort. What was with this group-home and their manners? Usually it was more of a ‘here’s the room you guys sleep on choose a mattress, be quiet’ kind of situation. 

"And that's Bruce, he's mute, for now, or maybe forever, but since Clint's deaf most of us are learning ASL and-" 

"Steve" Phil shot him a soft smile "we don't want to overwhelm her just yet. 

Natasha glanced down at the boy sitting at Steve's feet. He was staring up at her, this time it was a challenge. He wasn't taking his eyes away from hers and he made no move to introduce himself. Natasha couldn't help but smirk at him, which caused a flash of determination to enter his face, he was thinking. He was deducing something, making opinions of her merely off of the few moments they'd been in each others line of view. Natasha could feel everyone else staring at them now. Well, mostly at the boy. What she wasn't expecting however was for the blonde one, Steve to bring his foot out and lightly kick the boy in the side, which caused him to whip his head around breaking the eye contact. 

"Steve" he muttered in a voice that was trying so hard not to be a whine. 

"Tony" Steve mimicked. 

"Now I don't even get to introduce myself, you suck" He muttered slumping into the couch "Phil I can not share a room with him I'm gonna die" Tony said definitively. 

"So the silence was a form of protest because you don't want to share a room with Steve?" Phil replied his expression clearly trying not to be amused. 

"Aw man, I really thought you were gonna keep that up" Clint teased the kid ruffling his hair. "Before this becomes something, how about I show you to your room?" Clint smiled slightly. "Or you can wait for Maria to get here, she lives in the loft suite, and she's been cleared as a guardian for your case specifically. We figured it might be nice to have a woman around, you know, in case you feel uncomfortable" Clint said, his voice trailing off worrying he'd say the wrong thing, implied the wrong thing. "and I mean, she's great to keep burglars out, I've never met anyone as skilled in martial arts as her" he laughed. "You'll love her, maybe, I don't really know you yet, but everyone loves Maria" Clint rambled on. "This is your room. You can repaint the walls if you'd like, as you can see Steve took 'paint the walls however you'd like' very seriously" He added with a small chuckle. The walls in Steve's previous bedroom were covered in different paintings. Ranging from cartoon characters, to realistic landscapes and even the occasional words. 

Natasha nodded "It's great, thank you Clint" She smiled. She was using that voice. The one she always used at auditions, but she probably wouldn't be here much longer and she'd be able to drop the voice, and the nodding and the presentable outfits. 

"Bathroom is across the hall, our bedroom is the door at the end of the hallway, feel free to call on us at any hour of the day, we're here for whatever you need. Seriously, it doesn't bother us. Bruce woke me up at five in the morning yesterday because he saw a ladybug out his window." Clint added with a small fond smile. "Bedtime for you is nine-thirty ten-ish, but you can always pack it in earlier if you'd like, and usually you can stretch it a little later if you need to. Shower rules, just make sure no one else is in there, and you can spend as long as you'd like. Food in the kitchen is available at all hours of the day, go down and have as much of whatever whenever you want. Water too, almost anything is free for all. Don't take the other kids stuff though of course, and we expect them to respect that rule too, if they don't let us know. If you need anything, like a book to read, school supplies, or have a dinner request, you can either tell us, but we do have the drop box system, because some household members don't like making public announcements on that kind of thing, and you can just write down whatever it is and shove it in the little shoebox under the sink down stairs and I'll get to them as soon as I can" Clint explained. "This is a lot to take in, I don't expect you to remember all of it, if you have questions don't hesitate to ask" He smiled. 

As Clint left she flopped down onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling, where Steve presumably had painted pretty clouds. She smiled softly to herself, it was sweet, a bit like nurseries in tv-shows. 

Tony was laying on his bed pyjamas in his hands, pout on his lips. The nine year old was obviously unhappy with the living arrangements. 

"Stop being a baby, at least you get to stay in the same room" Steve muttered folding his clothes into his dresser. "New girl is gonna paint over all my stuff" he added with a huff. 

"Sorry" Tony replied, his voice softer than usual. It made Steve pause for a moment. 

"It's not your fault, this rooms bigger" Steve shrugged. 

Phil knocked lightly on the door, Steve called a little 'come in' and the man entered. 

"Tony, PJs" He said firmly. "I know you don't want to go to bed, but-" 

"It's only eight thirty," the boy muttered, glancing down at his hands. 

"And you've had a long day buddy" Phil replied ruffling his hair and putting a hand on his back guiding Tony to the washroom. 

Steve took this opportunity of peace as his moment to slip into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He usually slept shirtless, but something felt more formal having a girl in the house, it was also possibly the whole having-a-roommate piece. He poked his head out the door, Clint and Phil were standing in the doorway of Bruce’s room, the bathroom door was closed and Steve assumed that Tony was in there. Natasha’s light’s were off, but Bucky’s were on.

“Buck, can I come in?” Steve called quietly knocking on the door. 

“One second” Bucky called from the room. 

Steve glanced down the hallway, placing his hands in his pockets waiting in the dim light. He always wanted to turn the stupid hall light off, he was a light sleeper, and it was irritating, but Bruce liked having the light on (and although he would never admit it, Bucky appreciated it too) 

“Come in” Buck called, sitting on his bed. His prosthetic was awkwardly lying against the bedside table. Bucky hated taking it off, especially when there were other people around, but Steve had been around long enough, he was trusted. 

“Remind me again why we can’t share a room?” Steve groaned lying down on top of Bucky’s comforter. 

“I’ll get sick of you” Bucky replied with a smirk poking the younger boy’s cheek. 

“Buck!” Steve glared playfully swatting his shoulder. “Seriously, I’d way rather-” 

“You sleep like a veteran, and I scream like one, and also I doubt Social Services would be to pleased with a baby and a teenager-” 

“I’m twelve” Steve countered. 

“Oh, right sorry, my bad, very old-” Bucky teased receiving another swat. 

“Tony’s nine” 

“Convincing me isn’t going to get you anywhere Stevie” Bucky said with a light-hearted chuckle. 

“Yeah, well” Steve sighed resting his head on Bucky’s good shoulder. 

“At least you don’t have to sleep in the bathtub” Bucky mumbled clearly getting tired. 

“We could list a thousand at least’s, at least I don’t have to sleep in an iceberg-” 

“That’s the spirit” Bucky snickered which got another small swat. 

“Stop that, I’m not a fly” Bucky groaned grabbing Steve’s hand “Keep your paws away from me” he added placing Steves hand onto the boys head “You ragamuffin” 

Natasha could see the silhouette of feet underneath the crack of her door, to startle the person she decided to swing it open. She hadn’t been expecting an exhausted looking Tony standing in front of her. 

“Goodnight” he said “I like your hair”

Nat furrowed her brow trying to prevent a smirk from creeping onto her face. “Thank you, go to bed” She said plainly. 

“You’re russian right?” The boy asked. 

Nat huffed a small sigh “Yup” she emphasized the p. 

“Dobroy nochi” The boy said looking up at her. 

Natasha couldn’t help herself from smiling this time “Spokoynoy nochi” she replied before shutting the door on him. She didn’t feel guilty about that. 

She heard his feet retreat back to his room, and she noticed a lock on her door. Clin and Phil hadn’t mentioned anything against locking doors, so she got out of bed and flipped it to be horizontal, bolted shut. 

“Do you really need that many blankets?” Steve asked walking into his new bedroom. 

Tony nodded “cold” he stated simply. 

Steve rolled his eyes with a hint of affection. “Alright, sleep well” 

“You too” 

Steve turned the lights off. 

Tony was mumbling incoherently in his sleep, which was decently aggravating, however, as time passed the boy seemed to calm, or quiet, probably both, down. So, night one could be considered a success in Steve’s books, and he usually wouldn’t be going to sleep so early, but no one really got much sleep the previous night, not with Thor getting a call from his brother at three in the morning which managed to wake everyone up. Thor’s brother was Bucky’s age, but he was currently deemed unfit for housing. Which Phil and Clint were both very angry about. It was a common dinner-time discussion piece. Tony must’ve been exhausted because Steve had seen him walking around the hallway past midnight, only to be disrupted again at three, and then woken up at seven. But the kid always looked exhausted, Steve wondered if he ever really slept. Sometimes he’d pass Tony’s room on the way to get water and if he listened really closely he’d be able to hear faint music. Tony’s bedroom was adjacent to Clint’s side of the bed, and seeing as Clint didn’t sleep with hearing aids in, Tony was usually able to as he wanted.

As he would later find out, Tony had in fact been mumbling to himself, and _not_ in fact been sleep talking. In turn, this meant Steve's hunch about the kid's sleeping patterns proved to be correct, because despite eventually falling asleep, he woke up not too long after drifting off. His face was buried underneath covers attempting to keep the light from under the door out of his eyes. He felt like it were brighter than usual. Why was the light so bright? He bit the inside of his cheek attempting to stay quiet so the younger boy could get some rest. He was beginning to doze off again, and as if on cue, Tony began to rustle around.

Steve groaned slightly. He waited a few minutes. 

“Will you hush up?” he muttered. No reply. Classic. 

The rustling continued. 

“Tony please be quiet I’m tired-” Steve tried again bringing his hands up to his temples. _“Tony”_ he repeated. The third time with out an answer Steve snapped the bedside table lamp on out of frustration. When his eyes were adjusted to the new lighting he was shocked to see Tony wide awake staring at him. The boy was lying partially under his bed with a flashlight, pages of what looked like maths sprawled across their floor. 

“What the-” Steve muttered furrowing his brow. 

Tony simply stared at him. 

“C’mon Tony, it’s” He glanced at the analogue clock on the wall “two thirty two in the morning” He was trying not to sound as exhausted as he knew he was, but it was difficult seeing as it was _way_ too late to deal with whatever the heck was going on.   
Tony’s eyes went wide and he pulled himself out from underneath the bed glancing up at the clock “Oops sorry I’ll be more quiet-” he said giving Steve an awkward thumbs up. 

“I- _what_?” The older boy replied “No you’re going to bed” He muttered stubbornly. 

Tony sat on the side of his bed and shook his head “ ‘m not tired” the boy replied pulling a page covered in scribbled writing out from under the bed. Steve narrowed his eyes at the work, it looked like some sort of equation, with tons of architectural-like drawings scrawled on the edges of the sheet.   
“Tony, it’s two am, you’re nine” Steve sighed reaching to grab the paper from him. 

“Yeah, well, whatever” Tony said grasping onto the page a little tighter.   
“Well, you might not be tired, but I am so-”   
“I _said_ I’d be quieter” Tony mumbled, frustration edging in his tone.   
“You look tired” Steve pushed on, grasping at whatever he could hoping he could convince the kid to sleep. 

“Well” 

“You need to rest, if you get the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep daily you’ll feel far better-”   
“I don’t care how I feel” Tony replied “that doesn’t really matter. Do you know if we can have french toast for breakfast tomorrow?” Tony interrupted himself “but it doesn’t matter because if I’m not sleeping it means I haven’t finished whatever I’m working on, and if I don’t finish whatever I’m working on sleeping is pointless because it’s wasting time, and if I waste time it’ll take longer to finish, and if takes longer to finish, your shirt’s on inside out-” 

“Tony, bed now,” Steve said attempting to be commanding. He was trying to emulate his mom, it wasn’t working great. When Tony shook his head, Steve figured he probably wouldn’t get much more sleep anyways so he started heading towards the door. He considered sleeping with his Dad’s, was he too old for that? They wouldn’t care, it would be a bit of a hit to the ego though. But it wasn’t his fault, it was Tony’s and logically that was a very good reason, and seeing as- his thoughts were interrupted as he reached the door because Tony stood in front of it tear pricks in the corner of his eyes hands at each side of the frame.   
“Y-you can’t get Phil and Clint” he muttered frantically.   
“Tony, what?” Steve replied pushing him out of the way to grab for the handle, but the kid was resilient, Tony grabbed the door handle himself and pushed it in the opposite direction that Steve’s force was headed. 

“You _can’t_ please” he repeated “Please, don’t tell them-” The pin-prick sized tears were beginning to pool, and threatening to stream down the boy’s cheeks.   
“They won’t be happy to know you’re not sleeping” Steve murmured absent mindedly entering a judgmental voice as he exerted more of his strength.   
“I tried” Tony stuttered out “I promise, I swear I tried, please Steve please” The boy begged. Steve paused.   
“I won’t if you go to bed” Steve countered. This seemed to push the little boy over the edge seeing as tears began relentlessly streaming down his cheeks. 

“Steve I _can’t_ ” he mumbled wiping his face furiously as though his eyes had betrayed him. He looked a lot younger than nine in the moment, and Steve felt a lot older than twelve.   
“I usually can, I promise-” 

Steve narrowed his eyes “I’m not going to get Dad and Papa, but you’re going to tell them you were up until two tomorrow”   
Tony shook his head. “No.” 

But before the debate could continue the bedroom door swung open. Clint stood in the doorway, his dirty blonde hair poking out at different angles.   
“Boys, why pray-tell are you both awake?” he said with a small smile creeping on his tired face.   
“Tony couldn’t sleep” Steve tattled “he woke me up”   
Tony’s face hardened with a glare his previously neutral face turning into a frown.   
“Buddy we talked about that, you pinkie promised that if you couldn’t sleep and it was passed eleven you would come get one of us” Clint said softly kneeling.   
“Steve, thank you for telling me, if you don’t need anything, we’ll probably head out, d’you think you’ll be able to fall back to sleep?” 

“I’m dead tired” he replied with a sheepish grin headed towards his bed, he quickly sent Tony and apologetic smile, which was not returned, or acknowledged. 

“Alright Tones, remember what we talked about a couple weeks ago?” Steve heard Clint ask softly as the door shut. 


	2. Following Close but Twice as Slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simply a second day in the life. Things are kind of setting into place, but also kind of not
> 
> AN: I know the characters may seem OOC but they -are- children, and this is how I feel they would be as children. If you have any direct issues feel free to address them but don't expect immediate change!

There was a quiet knock on Natasha’s door. She’d already been dressed and was most certainly awake (and had been since approximately sunrise) she cracked the door open slightly. Clint, who was at the other side, had taken a step back from the door before she opened it, and that felt very reassuring for some reason. She briefly pushed the thoughts away remembering how childish and immature that kind of thinking was. 

“The kids are down stairs having breakfast, I have to make a quick call for work but I’ll be in the office I showed you yesterday, so if you need anything you know where I am” He smiled. “Maria will be coming over for dinner, but if you’re tired or just not feeling up to meeting more people you can of course sit this one out, none of that kind of stuff is going to be mandatory” 

“Thank you” Nat replied shortly. 

She carefully and silently followed him down to the kitchen, that way if anyone were to be lectured, it would be him and not her. The moment she reached the landing the smell of waffles filled the air. The sound of a blender obnoxiously pierced her ears, and there was definitely coffee. She berated herself for smiling slightly. It seemed straight out of an all-american-movie. 

Tony was sat at the breakfast bar  _ glaring  _ at Steve. The blond in question, oblivious to the stares was pouring a green smoothie into a glass and making grabby-hands at Bucky. Bucky slapped the straw into the boy's hand with so much force it almost caused him to spill the drink. Nat took an instinctive prepared position. However, all that Bucky got for being a little shit was a whine and a ‘Buckyyyyy!’ 

  
“Good morning Natasha, welcome to the break of our fast” The blonde with the (Austrailian? Norweigian? Hybrid?) accent said.  _ Thor _ . Her brain supplied. It would be quite amusing if he were actually named Thor and was actually from Norway, but Natasha had her doubts. 

“We’re not breaking any fasts, it’s just breakfast” A girl with a slavic accent supplied. Natasha whipped her head around. She was small and brunette, wearing a red t-shirt with a black hoodie unzipped hanging on her shoulders and a pair of joggers. She had a duffle bag at her side and her hair was pulled into a ponytail. 

Natasha planned on asking her who she was, but the girl beat her to it. 

“Are you Natasha? I’m Wanda” She said with a small smile.    
“She lives next-door, we’re about to go to a martial arts class” Steve said supplying Nat with what she actually needed. Natasha was grateful for Steve and his weird parental tendency of speaking on behalf of practically anyone at arms length from him, although she supposed it could get tiring quite quickly. 

“You take martial arts with someone half your size?” Natasha mused an edge of playfulness in her voice. It wasn’t enough to sound fully malicious, but it didn’t sound like they were buddy-buddy either. 

Steve rolled his eyes slightly “I teach-” 

“Barely, you just help out” Wanda corrected. 

“He sucked his way up the ladder” Tony muttered staring at his plate. Natasha noted that  _ that  _ comment had actually been a little bit malicious.    
Steve narrowed his eyes at the boy “How would you know, you’ve been here for like half a month” 

“Two months as of yesterday” Tony replied faster than Natasha could even supply today’s date.    
“Papa’s in the car, you’ll be late” Bucky added, glancing out the window trying to mediate the rising tension.    
“Clint said to give Phil this” Tony added quickly, stuffing a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. “Kick him extra hard Wanda, or give him a black eye, or whatever” He called at the girl as she shut the door, she gave Tony a thumbs up before the door closed. 

“You’re always so grumpy when you don’t sleep-” Steve said, riling the smaller up a little bit.    
“You’re always so annoying, all the time” Tony countered not even looking up from his plate, but the subtle intonations of his voice suggested that he  _ was  _ in fact grumpy, and possibly (probably) even hurt.    
“You’re always so-”    
“Steve, car. Tony, food. Break it up” Clint called from the office the phone rested in the crook of his neck as he shut the door.    
Thor reached his hand out squishing Steve’s face much to the boy’s annoyance.   
“Reign victorious Steven” he stated formally, he then turned to Natasha “I love watching the mortals fight one another for jest” 

Natasha gave him a fake smile and nod before looking around to see if any of the others were having a reaction to this strange rhetoric. They didn’t seem to have any form of reaction, so maybe this was just, normal. 

There was a moment of quiet, Bucky and Tony were both eating Waffles, Natasha and Thor simply standing there. 

“So plans for the day?” Thor said, grabbing the coffee. “James are you seeing anyone, maybe a date night? Or a friend coming? Or one of those class thingies?” 

Natasha furrowed her brow, was Bucky  _ James _ ? Probably. Maybe? This was already getting more confusing 

“No, nobody wants to date the cyborg-” Bucky added sarcasm and resentment decorating his words.

Tony furrowed his brow making a face “Datings gross, but cyborgs are cool. If you were  _ actually _ a cyborg I’d like you more” 

Bucky couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “Why don’t you like me?” He said clutching his chest, wounded, (well, feigned. But no one had to know)

Tony shrugged. “Cause Steve’s your favorite” he supplied glancing at Natasha and cocking his head towards the chair. He was inviting her to sit, she obliged. It was one of his many eloquent ways of finishing a conversation with out even remotely bringing the topic to a close. Bucky took the note.   
  


“What about that kid who did track and field with Steve last year, isn’t he in your grade?” Thor said, clearing plates. 

“I  _ have  _ friends Thor, it’s called exaggeration. I’m not that desperate, not going to invite  _ Sam  _ over.” He groaned. “But you know what, probably, better than spending the day with you” he smirked slightly.

“You’re finishing the dishes” Thor frowned petulantly. 

“If only my metal arm were waterproof, what a shame, I was really looking forward to those dishes. Looks like you’ll be left here at the sink muttering ‘ode to jane’ for another billion years” 

Thor muttered an obscenity under his breath.    
  


Tony glanced up at the redhead “Are you not hungry?” He asked. 

“Hmm?” She replied, she’d been thinking, she wasn’t quite sure about what, but at the moment it seemed important.    
“Food, grab some” Tony said simply. 

Natasha liked the younger kids so far, they were so blunt, and see through, she didn’t feel as though Tony could say one thing and mean another, he seemed to blurt out whatever came to mind. Bruce of course didn’t speak, but he seemed caring and inquisitive. She actually wanted to get to know him, which was strange, seeing as she preferred to be left to her own accords.    
“Alright” She finally decided, grabbing a waffle. She glanced over at the other waffles that were lying on plates. Thor had one with powdered sugar, and one with Nutella. So clearly she was meant to put something on it. She’d never actually  _ had  _ a waffle before. She reached for the icing-sugar tentatively sprinkling it on the plate.    
  
“I was going to try and visit Loki” Thor stated sitting down. 

Natasha did not remember hearing about a Loki, however, she assumed that this Loki person was in relation to Thor, seeing as their names were both mirroring the Norse gods.  _ ‘Son of Odin’  _ her brain reminded her. She couldn’t help but shake her head, what kind of wack-ass parents did that to their poor kids. Then again he’s sent her to a boarding school at age six. 

Bucky nodded waiting for Thor to add onto his thought. 

“I was wondering if you’d want to come, you know, meet him, it would probably be good for him to talk to some normal kids his age-”    
“Normal” Bucky parroted biting the inside of his cheek. 

“Well man of winter?”    
“It  _ wasn’t  _ frostbite, it was a  _ train _ ” Bucky muttered “If Dad gives the all clear I’ll come” 

“Can I come?” Tony asked looking up at Thor.    
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea” Thor replied taking note of just how worn out the boy looked. 

“You wouldn’t want to overwhelm him” Natasha said offering the boy a smile. She didn’t really know where  _ that _ came from, but she had a guess, and the guess was his sad puppy-eyes, and his manipulative trembling bottom lip.    
“That makes sense” Tony replied. “Thor I’m done can I go play with Bruce now” 

“One more bite” Thor replied after glancing at Tony’s plate. It wasn’t far out of his eyeline seeing as mere seconds before he was sending a grateful look at Natasha.

“ _ Please _ ” Tony insisted.    
“One more”    
And at that Tony took the smallest bite he could’ve possibly taken, and dumped the rest in the compost before anyone could protest. 

“We’re not going to leave until Stevie gets back do you want to watch a show, or do something?” Bucky asked, turning towards the redhead.   
“We could go for a walk grab coffee” Thor offered. “I love coffee, have you had it before, it’s-”    
“She’s had coffee before” Bucky replied with a small eye-roll.    
“How do you know that?” Thor replied in a slightly annoyed questioning tone.    
“Because, I just do. So?” Bucky turned back towards the girl.    
“Sure” Natasha replied, reaching for her phone. She had her cargo-style jeans on again with a tight black t-shirt this time. Her phone was located on the side pocket. She glanced at the time, it was only nine in the morning. 

  
  


By the time Phil and Steve got home the kids were on the couch with too many bowls of snacks, and they’d definitely been there for at least two hours. Tony and Bruce were sprawled on their stomachs close to the couch but paying no mind whatsoever to the TV. Natasha had learned from Thor (who was far more responsible than he seemed [although equally immature and at times arrogant]) that Bruce had traumatic-mutism, but it seemed to be improving, they weren’t fully sure of the extent of things, but she shouldn’t feel discouraged if he didn’t reply. Which, Natasha felt didn’t need to be explained, if someone didn’t want to talk to her they didn’t want to, end of story, but she was glad to hear a little bit more about the other kid’s pasts. They were watching some sort of comedy. The boy’s had offered to start from the beginning of the series, or even watch a new series but Natasha didn’t mind. She sat on the armchair separated from them relishing in the strange version of peace and chaos in this temporary household. Peace was not the empty dull moments in dark plane rooms with uniform beds and sad looking girls that she’d been taught to appreciate. And the way the most chaotic moments were spatz between Tony and Steve, not the hotness consuming her body and her mind, the way her vision went red and she  _ couldn’t see _ . She took a breath refocusing on the show as the door jangled open. Steve ran up the stairs presumably dropping his bag in his bedroom. 

“How are you kids doing?” Phil said entering the archway of the open-concept living room. 

“Good” almost everyone said. Phil laughed slightly, he remembered despising that question as a kid. ‘How are you doing?’ or ‘How was school today?’ ‘What did you learn?’.    
“What’s everyone been up too?”    
“Nothing really, but I would like to talk to you briefly about my brother, and Dad’s making lunch if you were looking for him” Thor spoke for the group. 

“Why don’t we go chat about that now?” Phil offered, the blonde stood up and the two left the room.    
Steve walked in sending a confused face as Bucky turned off the tv the moment he sat down.    
“What’s that for?”    
“I’m bored of it” Bucky smirked.    
  


About half an hour later, Clint was taking Bruce to see a child-psychologist, and Tony was very evidently unhappy about this. Bruce didn’t seem too happy about leaving either, but he was always excited to go play games with Dr. Cho.    
“Why can’t he just stay today?  _ Please _ ” The boy begged not letting go of Bruce’s little hand that was wrapped around his finger.    
“Wanna go” Bruce murmured quietly, which was a slight shock to Clint who’d so rarely heard his voice. Tony looked decently surprised as well, dropping his hand at the boy’s request but he looked moments away from melting down. He was running off of barely four hours of sleep, so it was decently excusable.    
“You could come too Tony” Clint offered softly “I’m sure Dr. Cho would be pleased to meet you” 

Tony made a face and shook his head. “ _ No _ ” He stated firmly. “Nope, no, definitely not, you can not  _ drag  _ me there”    
“Tony, it was simply an offer it wasn’t a request-”    
“ _ Then why do you keep offering? _ ” Tony said in what wasn’t quite a yell, but it was louder and more expressive than his usual speaking voice.    
“You’re upsetting Bruce” Clint said softly “can you go wait in the car kiddo?” Clint asked in a similar tone. The seven year old nodded and headed off to the car. “Look kid, I know you don’t want to go to see a therapist, but Bruce is really benefiting from the sessions so if you could please not act so averted by the idea in front of him that would be really nice. I don’t want to make you feel like you need to, or even want to go, but I don’t want you making Bruce feel like he shouldn’t need, or want to go. Does that make sense?”    
Tony nodded quietly, no verbal reply was common from the boy whenever he felt guilty, or upset. And as much as Clint wanted to stay with the kid they couldn’t miss Bruce’s appointment. He ruffled Tony’s hair shutting the door, he texted Phil with a request to check in with the boy as soon as he could. Tony was sensitive to any form of rejection, or disappointment. Which was why he separated himself from Steve with his perfect-moral-compass and overly perfect manners. He hadn’t expressed any feelings of inadequacy and they were easy to brush off with small cocky remarks. 

  
Tony slowly walked back towards the living room mostly wanting to scream because now he felt selfish, and was he really  _ that  _ bad? He always seemed to make things worse. It was so much easier to screw things up than it was to make them better. Except machines. They were easy to improve. Hard to break. They made sense, they didn’t mind if you blurted out the first thing that popped into your head, and they  _ always  _ worked. He couldn’t make them worse. Not anymore at least, maybe when he was younger, but if he could at least fix a toaster he was still fixing  _ something _ instead of ruining it. 

“How are you feeling Tony?” Phil asked, intercepting the boys path to the couches.    
Tony shrugged, before remembering Jarvis, Jarvis used to say that it was when he was quiet it was the most worrisome. That was why he was always worried about Bruce. Bruce was always quiet, so something  _ really  _ bad must’ve happened. “I’m feeling good,” he replied, shooting a crooked smile. And walking into the living room before Phil could say anything else. The man stood in the doorway defeated not really knowing what to do. 

  
Bucky and Natasha seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, each of them using so few words he wondered if it could even be counted as a full conversation, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Steve was now sitting in criss-cross, his back pushed into the cushions of the couch sketchbook resting in his knees. 

  
  


The day seemed to pass by quite fast seeing as dinner arrived far sooner than Natasha anticipated. Steve had shown her around the neighbourhood on a small walk while the older boys visited Thor’s brother.

She introduced herself to Maria, the upstairs neighbour. Maria seemed no-nonsense, but not necessarily in a strict way more in a done-with-your-shit way. Natasha admired that. 

They were all sat at the dinner table, ravioli, a bright fresh salad, a jug of water, an entire baguette, parmesan, and chicken were all spread across the table. Natasha glanced around the only one who was looking at the scene with as much awe as she felt was    
“How was Loki?” Maria asked, clearly in the know about the go-abouts the kids all got up too.    
Bucky and Thor exchanged a glance. “He was, well, he doesn’t seem to be doing too great, I really think a stable home environment would be more beneficial than the isolation of his current situation” Thor said watching his word choice.    
Phil and Clint nodded along. “Who was his social worker again?” Phil pressed folding his arms slightly. The duo tried their best not to get over involved in Thor’s brother's life, but it was so difficult when he was being so mistreated. They couldn’t truly think being a flight risk was criminal. Maybe he stole one or two items from the family, but was it not enough that there were other parents willing to take that risk? Somehow the social worker - Strucker Thor supplied - deemed it better to isolate the teen on a probation-psych ward hybrid. 

“Bucky are you all right?” Clint asked carefully hoping that whatever happened hadn’t triggered anything within the boy. They had a lot on their hands trying to get through to Natasha, and the longer Tony stayed with them the more worrisome habits were being uprooted.    
Bucky nodded with a small laugh “it was nothing like that, promise” Bucky said giving Clint a smile. 

Tony looked near falling asleep at his spot on the table. Bruce was sitting next to Natasha, she was teaching him the russian alphabet (? maybe, who truly knows).    
“I’ll contact Strucker's superiors again, this is outrageous” Phil muttered scooping a second small serving of Ravioli onto Bruce’s plate, he went to give Tony more but the boy stopped him quickly with an aggressive “I can do it myself” 

“The chicken’s really nicely flavoured” Steve commented in between bites. 

“You’re such a suck up” Tony muttered into his plate. 

Steve whipped his head around “Will you lay off for half a second?” He murmured slightly under his breath.    
Tony frowned with a face that suggested he were thinking about it. “No,” he decided. 

“ _ Papa _ ” Steve said in a slightly tense voice. Phil shot him an apologetic look, but he knew Tony could not handle being berated today, not with the lack of sleep, and the amount of people at the table. The kid would probably push himself to tears and then by consequence refuse to look at anyone for a few day’s. He’d talk about it with Tony later.    
“Are you working on anything big art-wise right now?” He settled for diverting the conversation.    
“I kind of want to paint-” Steve glanced at Tony deciding  _ now  _ was not the time to bring up painting the walls of his bedroom. (their bedroom but it didn’t really feel like it) “sorry draw, but um a portrait of my mom” he settled. He’d been thinking about it for a while anyways. “You know, just as like a, yeah” He mumbled softly “I miss her, I think she’d like that”   
“I think she would love that” Phil smiled ruffling the kids hair.    
“Do you paint Ms. Hill?”    
The woman laughed “I practically failed fifth grade art” She told the table in a dead-pan.    
“It’s alright I almost failed art last year” Bucky piped up “I told the teacher that I was left handed and that’s the only reason I got an A” he said with a small smirk creeping over his face.   
“Your arm is dextrous” Thor commented, raising his eyebrow.    
“Mrs. Clemmence doesn’t need to know that” Bucky replied. 

“James” Clint said in feign seriousness “I can’t believe you would lie to a teacher about such a thing” 

“It’s her fault for not even realizing her student had a prosthetic.” Bucky protested laughing slightly.    
“I can’t believe that school of yours. They refused Thor an elevator pass when he  _ broke  _ his foot. Poor kid was going up three floors of stairs on crutches” Clint explained to Natasha, Maria, and Tony. All though the latter wasn’t particularly immersed in the conversation. His eye line seemed to have settled on a photo of Phil and Clint's dog Lucky completely zoned out. Lucky still lived with their first foster-kid Kate. Kate came by for Christmas and Thanksgiving usually, but she lived far away so none of the kids knew her that well. They only had her in their care for a year and a half so not even Steve or Thor met her. 

“Are you looking forward to starting school or would you like another week or so to adjust before hopping back in?” Clint turned to Natasha. “There’s another week of winter break, but if you know whether you’d like to hop right in we can plan accordingly” 

Natasha shrugged “I haven’t thought of that” she replied, taking a sip of her water in a hope to prevent further questioning. 

Clint nodded “no worries, no pressure or anything at all” 

Natasha couldn’t help but wonder if she would even be here long enough to look at schools. 

“May I be excused from the table?” Tony asked quietly looking up from his seat.   
“Do you not want any dessert?” Phil asked slightly perplexed, Tony was usually a very indulgent kid.    
“ 'm tired,” He replied, slurring his words.    
Phil nodded “would you like any help?”    
As expected the boy shook his head fiercely. 

Phil and Clint exchanged a worried glance as they heard his bedroom door shut. 

“I took martial arts training my whole time at the academy” Natasha nodded. She was deep in conversation with Maria, her thoughts moving so quickly that her accent was even peaking through slightly as she lost her way. 

“It’s such a useful skill set to have you know, you could become a SHIELD agent at some point even-” 

“You’re corrupting our-” Phil stopped himself awkwardly clearing his throat “you’re corrupting Natasha and exposing confidential information”    
“Oh come on, everybody knows about SHIELD”    
“Yeah, everyone knows about SHIELD” The remaining children chorused, causing Maria and Clint to laugh.    
“I do martial arts too” Steve piped up. “Wanna spar?”    
Nat snickered “I don’t want to hurt you” she replied shortly.    
Steve frowned “Seriously” 

“No”    
“Please, please, I just want to try. No hard feelings.” Steve said standing up.    
“Steve, please not during dinner-”    
“Tony already left” Steve complained. Phil couldn’t argue with that logic.    
Natasha glanced towards Phil who sighed defeated.    
“He won’t stop until you spar” He replied. 

Natasha laughed slightly and stood up “But I’m going easy on you” She added, mostly in spite of him. 

And so he gave it his all and she blocked every maneuver, every kick, hook, swat was blocked almost effortlessly. Which was incredible for Thor, Bruce, and Bucky to watch, but terrifying for Clint, Phil and Maria.    
“You’re very good” she deduced sitting back down at the table, giving him no time for redemption. It was redemption he didn’t particularly want, because now he was sitting jaw slightly a jar, staring at the girl.   
“Teach me the forearm thing, please” 

“Perhaps” 

* * *

“I’m going to do some more research about Natasha’s history, her file was very vague. What kind of ballet school trains all their students in martial-arts to that extent?” Clint mumbled from the right side of the bed.    
  
“Yeah, that makes sense, it’s midnight, I’m going to go check on Tony” Phil mumbled standing up. “Probably Bucky too, he hasn’t been sleeping well lately. I wish he’d talk to us about this stuff” 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, he’s a teenager now, I’m sure it’s just the angst. He’d come if something were really bothering him” Clint assured him. “Check on him either way though”    
“Alright, love you, be back in half a second to half a day” he laughed.    
He padded down the hall peeking into Steve and Tony’s room. Tony appeared to be sleeping, or at least he wasn’t up and about, so he carefully shut it. He headed across the hall to Bucky’s. Bucky seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but he decided to leave a note on the door, like they’d done when he was younger, just a small reminder to come talk to them if he needed or wanted anything. He shut off the bathroom light and headed back towards the master bedroom, leaving the hallway night lights on.    
  
“So, anything on the boarding school?” Phil asked climbing in next to his husband. Clint shook his head.    
“But we have an email regarding Tony’s case”    
Phil furrowed his brow leaning over Clints shoulder.    
“Obadiah Stane wants to exercise his visitation rights, do we know anything about this guy?”    
Phil shook his head “I haven’t heard of him. If Tony doesn’t want to visit with him can we stop him?”

Clint shook his head “Tony’s what? Nine? He doesn’t have any control in making life long decisions at this age or whatever. He doesn’t have any control of his case, if this man want’s to visit Tony doesn’t have much choice.” Clint sighed “It could be good for him though? He’s been seeming a little lost lately” Clint continued.    
Phil nodded. “We should try to get some rest” he offered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment what you'd like to see etc etc   
> I hope you enjoyed  
> -E

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you'd like to see more, or something different please let me know!  
> -E


End file.
